Chart of the world, on Mercator's projection : illustrative of the impolicy of slavery / [James Cropper].

[London] : J. Cross, [between 1823 and 1828]

1 map : hand colored ; 11 x 19 cm, on sheet 23 x 28 cm

Scale approximately 1:216,000,000 ; Mercator projection (W 180°--E 180°/N 80°--S 70°).

BEIN 2021 438 28: Number 28 of 36 titles bound together with spine title: American slave album. Compiled by the Birmingham Female Society for the Relief of British Negro Slaves. Inscription: M Roberts 1828. Binder's ticket: R. Peart, bookseller, binder & stationer, Bull Street, Birmingham.

"Also sold by Hatchard & Son, Piccadilly, J. & A. Arch, Cornhill, & Seeley & Son, Fleet Street, London."

"This polemic map argues that import prohibitions and high duties on sugar were artificially inflating prices and inhibiting manufacturing in England. It was published by J. Cross, but the anonymous author of the map was soon identified as James Cropper, a successful and wealthy Quaker merchant, philanthropist and disciple of Adam Smith. Cropper was a major force in the anti-slavery movement and believed that eliminating tariff protections would lead to the end of slave labour in the West Indies ... The map was first published in the Liverpool Mercury in October 1823. It was republished in the Kaleidoscope, or, Literary and Scientific Mirror in June 1824 and in several other publications through 1828. As explained in the legend, the tiny red dots in the Western Hemisphere represent Jamaica and the other West Indian sugar-producing colonies of England. While sugar may be grown in vast reaches of the world 30 degrees north and south of the equator - including India, shown in pink as "Hindostan"--Import of that sugar into Britain was effectively barred, either directly or by prohibitive duties. Because sugar was an important commodity not only for food but for certain chemical processes, Cropper argued that these restrictions, "imposed for the exclusive protection and support of slave cultivation in the West Indian colonies," were constraining "British manufactures, to an extent that would give employment to all the destitute population of Ireland and Great Britain." Apart from the employment opportunities lost, Cropper put the cost of the trade barriers at 1.2 million pounds annually. Cropper had interests in East Indian sugar and therefore stood to benefit from the reduction of tariffs, which colored his role in the abolition movement. Nevertheless, Cropper "may be one of those occasional cases in which conduct is not primarily influenced by self interest ... He went on to play an important part in passage of the cornerstone Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 and in uniting the efforts of British and American anti-slavery organizations."--Collector's notes in Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection.

English

January 26, 2021